Equity Bancshares upgraded to Overweight following selloff at Stephens. As previously reported, Stephens analyst Terry McEvoy upgraded Equity Bancshares to Overweight from Equal Weight as he now feels the stock is undervalued after sliding 16% in the last 90 days. Organic growth has picked up in recent quarters and he has confidence in the company's track record of finding shareholder friendly M&A deals, McEvoy tells investors. He has a $42 price target on Equity Bancshares' stock.

Equity Bancshares announced it has entered into a definitive purchase and assumption agreement to acquire the assets and assume the deposits of two bank locations in Guymon, Oklahoma, and one bank location in Cordell, Oklahoma from MidFirst Bank. Equity anticipates closing the acquisition in Q1 of 2019. The announcement occurs after Equity's recent entry into Guymon, acquiring City Bank and Trust, or CBT from parent company Docking National Bancshares. Equity completed the merger with CBT on August 23, with the platform conversion scheduled to conclude in October. The additional bank locations in Guymon and Cordell provide additional market presence for Equity in its Southwest and Oklahoma regions. Equity merged with Kansas Bank Corporation in May 2018, adding bank locations in Liberal and Hugoton, Kansas, and previously expanded into Oklahoma through mergers with Cache and Eastman National Bancshares, Inc. in November 2017. The MidFirst bank location acquisitions will mark 19 business combinations for Equity since 2003, and nine since the company's initial public offering in November 2015. Equity's combined Guymon and Cordell market is expected to include approximately $225M in deposits and will continue to rank number one in market share in Texas County, Oklahoma. Equity's pro forma franchise of 52 full-service bank locations, following the addition of the three MidFirst bank locations, is expected to have approximately $3.9B in total assets with $2.9B in deposits.

Reports Q2 loan loss provision $750K vs. $628K a year ago. Q2 net charge-offs were a net recovery of $17K vs. net charge-offs of $108K a year ago. Tangible book value per common share was $18.16 at June 30, 2018.

Equity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQBK) ("Equity" or the "Company"), parent company of Equity Bank, announced it has entered into a definitive merger agreement to acquire City Bank and Trust, ("CBT") of Guymon, Oklahoma, from parent company Docking Bancshares, Inc. ("Docking") of Arkansas City, Kansas. Equity anticipates closing the merger in the fourth quarter of 2018. The merger announcement occurs after Equity's May 4, 2018 entry into Southwest Kansas with the closing of its merger with Kansas Bank Corporation ("KBC"), which had bank locations in Liberal and Hugoton, Kansas. Equity previously expanded into Oklahoma through mergers with Cache Holdings, Inc. and Eastman National Bancshares, Inc. in November 2017, adding Oklahoma as a fourth state to its Midwestern footprint. Equity has completed 17 successful business combinations since 2003, and eight since the Company's initial public offering in November 2015. At closing of the transaction, which is expected to occur in the fourth quarter of 2018, Equity will acquire all of CBT from Docking, subject to receipt of customary regulatory approvals and closing conditions. Under the terms of the definitive agreement, at the effective time of the merger, Docking will receive consideration of approximately $18,900,000 in cash, subject to adjustments based on the equity capital of CBT at closing, as further set forth in the definitive merger agreement. Equity expects the merger to be approximately 14c accretive to diluted EPS in 2019, and 17c accretive to EPS in 2020, with transaction-related and one-time costs of approximately $2.2 million. Equity expects the merger to be approximately 2.8% dilutive to tangible book value per share at closing, inclusive of the estimated purchase accounting adjustments, and expects the tangible book value earn back to be 2.75 years using the cross-over method. Finally, Equity expects to remain above all "Well Capitalized" capital ratios as defined by regulatory guidelines, inclusive of the impact of all estimated purchase accounting adjustments.